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 Today I am going to go off the chain and just be myself. I want everyone to understand what it is like to be a preschool teacher. So here is something that will help you understand. Yes, it is like trying to get kittens to take a cute picture. You are constantly moving back and forth and calling out names. While helping one child with an art project, two others have decided to jump off the chairs. But they aren't JUST jumping off the chairs they are going to attempt to jump over each other while jumping off the chairs. So then they are mad at you because you stopped them in the planning stages of the trick. It’s awesome. Honestly, my work is fun because I remember what it was like to be their age. I remember spraying myself with perfume and then dropping it all over my room and smelling it for WEEKS! My mother was livid. Thankfully, I was sick so she couldn’t get mad at me properly because I picked a time when I was running a fever to jump on my bed while spraying 80’s children’s perfume all over myself. Remember that smell? I do...clearly. I get a phantom migraine just thinking about it. So, everyone understands what it is like managing a classroom (scroll back to the cats). Now we talk about the paperwork.  So I am Military FCC. This means TONS of paperwork. Tedious paperwork with seemingly no real reason behind it. Obviously we have NOTHING else to do besides all of this paperwork. I have to give them a list of all the children in my program every month, I have to send them my weekly menus, I have to do a daily inspection checklist (which means I am up well before my first kid comes in), I have to post a weekly lesson plan, perform and document fire drills, take part in monthly inspections, write the date on spray bottles and a plethora of other time consuming tasks. Then there is the children’s files, contracts, marketing, accounting, etc. I could go on but you are probably wanting to nap after all that right? WELL NO!!
Lesson plans. Yes, after all of that you need to make sure you are planning something fun for the children. Not having fun things to do can cause problems within the program. Mostly, children who are bored do weird things. So that is why I chose to use Mother Goose Time. I do this curriculum because by the time I am done with all of the above I am exhausted. My brain is fried and it is hard to come up with fun things for the children to do when you can barely think about what to make your family for dinner. The idea behind Mother Goose Time is to be able to make the learning experience fun and hands on. It is also about making it easy for the teacher to put the day together. For me, that means I am able to read through the week on Sunday and buy any extra supplies I may need. Usually I do not need anything extra so that works out for me. Sunday is the day I run all errands and set up for the coming week. I grocery shop and place Amazon orders for any teaching aides I may need. I am in love with Amazon. It’s where I make 90% of my purchases. Thankfully, Mother Goose Time eases some of the stress by including a list of supplies for each lesson and any books they feel with help reinforce the topic. I still love what I do though. There is nothing better than sitting down and talking to the children about what they have learned, hearing about their adventures(both real and imagined), and pretending to each weird play food combos that they proudly hand to you. It’s rewarding and beautiful. I can't imagine doing any other job. So while I am sitting up tonight writing this blog and preparing for the next week, understand that I am tired, but I am enjoying my work. Well, not the paperwork. But my husband will retire one day and I will make him my minion :). -Ms. Tessie |
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